Perth Airport Video Captures Plane's Engine in Flames on Takeoff

A plane taking off from Perth airport in Australia Tuesday experienced one of its engines bursting into flames while a man on the ground happened to capture it all on camera.

PerthNow reports that passengers of the Cobham Aviation flight were the first to spot the sparks and flames and quickly notified fight attendants. The flight's pilots were then able to make a quick turn around and land back on the ground in just five minutes time.

Amazingly, passenger Brad McCoy captured on video a stream of orange sparks jetting past his window and posted it to Facebook.

At the same time, Matt Pilat began filming from the ground when he saw the damaged plane fly over the suburbs just east of Perth.

"As the plane flew overhead we saw the left engine on fire and it progressively got bigger as it flew overhead," he said. Another witness said they saw a white cloud extinguish the flames and the plane make a sharp turn.

A spokesperson from Cobham Aviation Services said that, "The aircraft was climbing after take-off when the fire occurred in engine No. 2, which is on the inner port side of the aircraft. When the fire was detected, the engine was shut down and the fire extinguished. There were no injuries among the 92 passengers or two pilots and three cabin crew."

Passengers interviewed after the plane landed told reporters that they were not panicked by the fire, and that they trusted the flight crew to get them back to ground safely.

They said it was the second flight they had boarded that day after the first plane was deemed unable to fly due to computer system issues.